"one"

A veteran of Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label, Edward O'Sullivan Lee scored his first hit as producer in 1967: Roy Shirley's "Musical Field" for WIRL. From there it was a steppin' razor to renting space at Channel One.

Throughout the 1970s, virtually every dub 7" produced by Lee for his own imprint came stamped with a King Tubby Home Town Hi-Fi remix on its flip side. Bunny Lee was a man of integrity.

I am uncertain when this Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeared dub was originally recorded, or whether it was released. It features on the London based Jamaican Recordings compilation released in 2002. Jah Floyd reports in his sleeve notes that the material is culled from early working sessions with the Revolutionaries. With supporting aggrovation from Earl Smith and Willie Lingo.


▼ SLY & ROBBIE: DUB TO THE ROOTS from "Sly & Robbie Meet Bunny Lee At Dub Station" LP (Jamaican Recordings) 2002 (Jamaica)

thaw. dub. ice and water

After the freeze comes the thaw. In fits and starts, pooling where the grit never reaches; freezing over again. Where the main arteries have been treated, blood moves unrestricted.

On the side roads, the threading veins, circulation stalls and can't get started. So much chilly water. Black ice. Wet snow.

Crawling under the floe. Mapping. Indexing dark orchards and corals. Vines.
 

Mixed at King Tubby's

Home Town Hi-Fi, Kingston.

▼ KING TUBBY: WATER DUB from "Water Dub" CD (Lagoon) 1992 (Jamaica)

aggrovator archangel

rosa celeste†:

"dante and beatrice gaze upon the highest heaven (the empyrean)"
gustav doré.
Q: Is that a cornfield ? A: No. it is the Nephilim.

The title dub from "A Ruffer Version: Johnny Clarke at King Tubby's (1974 - 1978)"; aka "Special Brew", appropriately, issued first in 1995 on the "Bionic Dub" retrospective, through the Lagoon imprint, France, and Culture Press.

Produced by Bunny Lee. The Aggrovators:
Roland Alphonso: horn; Ansel Collins: organ;
King Tubby: performer; Boofa: rhythm guitar;
Rod Bryan: guitar; Carlton Davis: drums;
Bobby Ellis: horn; Ossie Hibbert: piano;
Tommy McCook: horn; Jackie Mittoo: organ;
Lloyd Parkes: bass; Robbie Shakespeare: bass;
Earl "Chinna" Smith: guitar; Lester Sterling: horn.

Mixed at King Tubby's
Home Town Hi-Fi, Kingston.

† allegedly.

▼ JOHNNY CLARKE: RUFFER VERSION from "A Ruffer Version: Johnny Clarke at King Tubby's (1974 - 1978)" CD (Trojan) 2002 (Jamaica / UK)

midnight to six, six, six

Produced by Jimmy Radway for Feh-Me-Time records, this is Augustus Pablo's version of the Errol Dunkley hit of the same name.

Both versions appear on the Feh-Me-Time compilation, "Keep The Pressure Down", covering the period 1974 - 1977.

Reissued through Prestige on CD sometime in the late 90's.

▼ AUGUSTUS PABLO: CINDERELLA IN BLACK (VERSION) from "Keep The Pressure Down" LP (Feh-Me-Time) 1977 (Jamaica)
▼ ERROL DUNKLEY: BLACK CINDERELLA from "Keep The Pressure Down" LP (Feh-Me-Time) 1977 (Jamaica)

pencil dub with inks

The version which appears on the Trojan volume, "Savage Pencil Presents: Lion vs. Dragon in Dub", compiled by Edward Poncey.

This would seem to be a mildly truncated version of the Augustus Pablo version released on his 1979 Rockers (JA) / Greensleeves (UK) compilation, "Original Rockers", but I am by no means certain. The original dub appears to have been recorded sometime between 1972 and 1975, during the first phase of Tubby's Home Town Hi-Fi.

They don't come much better than this. Some Pablo fer Anto and Big Ed Dunkel.

Recorded at Channel One , Kingston, Jamaica.

Mixed and engineered by King Tubby; Prince Jammy; Phillip Smart 
at King Tubby's Home Town Hi-Fi, Kingston, jamaica.Carlton Barrett: drums;
Aston Barrett & Robbie Shakespeare: bass;
Earl "Chinna" Smith: guitar;
Augustus Pablo: piano, organ;
Dirty Harry: tenor saxophone;
Don D. Junior: trombone;
Bobby Ellis: trumpet;
Augustus Pablo: clavinet, melodica.

▼ AUGUSTUS PABLO: TUBBY'S DUB SONG from "Savage Pencil Presents: Lion Vs. Dragon In Dub" CD (Trojan) 2007 (Jamaica / UK)

in my neighbourhood

illustration by edward poncey. overdubbed by ib.

King Tubby's dub on Horace Andy & the Aggrovators' "A Quiet Place", aka "Dub Place", which originally appeared on Andy's 70's LP release, "Zion Gate". Reissued on Culture Press in 1999.

The dub was first released, for serious Tubby completists, on the 2004 Trojan double CD, "King Tubby's in a Fine Style". If there is motorcycle noise somewhere under there it is very probably from one belonging to Bunny Lee.

▼ KING TUBBY: A NOISY PLACE from "Savage Pencil Presents: Lion Vs. Dragon In Dub (VA)" CD (Trojan) 2007 (Jamaica / UK)

kingston 11 and the 12 days of christmas

dubbing the 12 apostles

So. The tree stands upright. Aloft and not a bit aloof.

If we water it any there will be a flash and rolling thunder. The fibre optics are twinkling nicely, dashboard flavour.

To celebrate, I and I bring you yet more from the dub maestro's Waterhouse studio, Dromilly Avenue, Kingston 11. With a little help from NØ. Recorded between 1975 and 1979, and marking phase II of his Home Town Hi-Fi evolution; rebuilt from 'scratch' - from the roots up - after the police closed it down, G-Man style. RAT-A-TA-TAT; RUB-A-DUB-DUB. 

The Blood & Fire retrospective on which these appear, issued in '94, credits the production as follows: 

Engineered by King Tubby.

Prince Jammy; Phillip Smart; and Scientist.
Produced by Bunny Lee.
Instrumentation by the Aggrovators.

▼ KING TUBBY: SATTA DREAD DUB from "Dub Gone Crazy: The Evolution of Dub at King Tubby's (1975 - 1979)" CD (Blood & Fire) 1994 (Jamaica)
▼ KING TUBBY: JAH LOVE ROCKERS DUB from "Dub Gone Crazy: The Evolution of Dub at King Tubby's (1975 - 1979)" CD (Blood & Fire) 1994 (Jamaica)

drop dub massacre

Two rare King Tubby mixes - date of recording unknown - which appear on the 1999 Culture Press CD release, "The Fatman Tapes", reissued as "Crucial Dub" the following year on the UK imprint, Delta Music.  

Dub be thankul for what you got.

Produced by Ken 'Fatman' Gordon.
Mixed by King Tubby.

Earl "Chinna" smith: guitar;
Gladstone Anderson, Winston Wright: keyboards;
Robbie Shakespeare: bass;
Sly Dunbar: drums.

▼ KING TUBBY: SOUNDBOY MASSACRE from "The Fatman Tapes" CD (Culture Press) 1999 (Jamaica / UK)
▼ KING TUBBY: DROP DUB from "The Fatman Tapes" CD (Culture Press) 1999 (Jamaica / UK)